Local villagers handing in home made guns and ammunition from the Second World War during a ...

Local villagers handing in home made guns and ammunition from the Second World War during a weapons amnesty run by the International Peace Monitoring Team (IPMT). The yellow bag in the foreground contained approximately 200 .303 rounds and three Second World War hand grenades. A number of the children in the group are making the 'no more weapons' sign. The Australian led IPMTs main tasks were supervision of the surrender of weapons, regular inspection of the stored weapons, confidence-building within affected Solomon Islands communities, and reporting to the Peace Monitoring Council. The IPMT was deployed as a neutral international presence in support of the Townsville Peace Agreement signed in October 2000 and included police from Tonga, Cook Islands and Vanuatu, in addition to Australian and New Zealand personnel. They were an unarmed and neutral organisation which had up to 50 personnel at five team sites (three on Guadalcanal and two on Malaita) and a Headquarters based at Henderson on the outskirts of Honiara. The team finished their deployment on 25 June 2002.